


Drifting

by ChocolateChipMaster



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Depressed Lance (Voltron), Depression, Gen, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Hurt Lance (Voltron), I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm so sorry, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Lance reflects on life on Earth, Lance thinks he's useless, Lance tries really hard ok, Langst, Panic Attacks, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), and how useless he feels, lance broke his leg, stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a single space lion, tbh it's mostly lance inner-monolouge, team as a family, there are no ships in this???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-04-17 04:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14180334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocolateChipMaster/pseuds/ChocolateChipMaster
Summary: All it takes is a single mistake on a mission gone wrong for Lance to be flung from the rest of the Paladins and into the far reaches of space. Alone, injured, and without a way to contact the rest of his team, Lance reflects on his life - everything that led up to being stranded in an enormous blue lion.But Lance and his thoughts have never gotten along well.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HOPE YA'LL ARE READY FOR A WILD RIDE
> 
> Timeline Placement: Season 1

If there was a word to describe Lance, it would be  _ reckless.  _

Others would call him an idiot, a dumbass if they were feeling particularly cruel, and even just plain  _ stupid.  _ But Lance, personally, preferred the term ‘loyal to a fault.’ And that loyalty, as most people probably figured, was going to be the end of him. 

It all started on the mission. 

Allura had gotten word that the Galra had been taking resources from a particularly vulnerable planet. The resources were, in the end, what was keeping it together. Any more, and the planet would literally implode on itself. 

Lance thought that sounded like a pretty good reason to burst through the atmosphere, donned in Paladin armor, guns blazing, ready to kick some Galra butts all the way back to Zarkon. Of course, things never go as planned. 

Voltron had been formed before they entered the planet’s atmosphere. Lance had been ready to do his favorite kicking maneuver Keith always seemed to hate (He was convinced they’d fall over every time they tried, but Lance had gotten better at that!) spinning around and doing as much damage to the Galra base as possible. 

Then, one of Haggar’s Robeasts appeared. This one was particularly hideous in Lance’s very justified opinion, covered in dozens, maybe thousands, of swirling eyeballs. Lance didn’t want to know if they were real or not. 

They hadn’t had to deal a Robeast since the Balmera, but they fell into the routine of taking way too many hits before finding a miraculous weak point. Unfortunately, Haggar seemed to anticipate it’s destruction, so as soon as the Robeast exploded in typical Voltron fashion, some Druid magic was expelled from within. 

It launched through the air, striking Voltron in the chest. Lance had felt it spreading through his lion, cutting off Blue’s power supply and draining it, taking his control from it. He heard his own screaming mixed with the others and then Voltron was gone. 

Lance’s vision was swimming in and out when he had opened his eyes. Blue was still functioning, only barely, alarms blaring in his ears. Shiro had asked on the wellbeing of the rest of the team. Keith, predictably, was the only one to respond coherently. Hunk groaned, Pidge whimpered and slurred her words, and Lance didn’t reply. He was too busy staring where the Robeast had been. 

In place of the destroyed robot was a single crackling ball of purple Druid magic. It was steadily growing smaller, an implosion imminent. Lance had taken one look at the rest of the Lions around him, slumped over in their own respective craters. They were listless. None of them would be able to power up their lions in time. 

Except for Lance. Blue was somehow still functioning. And if she was, Lance was able to save the others. 

Blue shared his sentimentality, a small growl rising from her throat. Lance had smiled, glad she agreed, and whispered a quiet apology to the others should he and Blue not survive the blast. 

_ Better him than them.  _

He dove the ball. 

The others had screamed his name, watching in horror but unable to react as a small blue figure darted in front of the blast. Lance had felt Blue’s energy leave as the lightning came straight for him, diving into Blue’s circuits and ripping her apart. He hard Blue’s anguished roar, heard himself scream, and then  _ darkness.  _

Now Lance was alone, floating in the emptiness of space with a broken leg. 

His forehead was bleeding too, but Lance decided the fact that his leg was currently twisted in a way that legs were  _ not  _ supposed to go was a bigger threat. 

He hissed in pain, angling his body so he could at least try to get his leg in a less awkward position (it was currently pinned between the pilot’s chair and the dashboard) but the jarring movement made him stop, his head swimming with pain. 

Swearing under his breath in ways that would have made his  Mamá slap him, Lance tried to drag himself out of the chair. Blue was offline, drifting listlessly through space. Lance had time to wonder if her air supply was limited before another jolt of pain sparking up his trapped leg made him cry out. 

What had Coran said? There were first aid kits in every Lion? 

_ Where?  _

Lance knew there were emergency  _ everything _ ’s in the cockpits of their lions. Emergency food, emergency blankets, even emergency duct tape and dental floss. You name it, it was probably somewhere in the cockpit. The only problem was  _ where.  _

Lance wondered if anything was within reach because with the way things were going right now, he was going to spend the rest of eternity with his leg trapped under the dashboard of his lion. 

_ You’d think Alteans would have been smart enough to keep something like this from happening,  _ Lance thought grudgingly, but upon further inspection, he found that the impact from the druid magic had jarred his seat out of place. Half of it, as Lance had already noticed, was stuck underneath the control board. 

“Okay, Lance,” he spoke out loud, his own voice sounding loud and imposing in the empty space around him. “You can do this. Just...pull it out. That’s it. All you have to do. Then, find the first aid kits. Then contact the others. No problem.” Saying his plan out loud was somehow calming for Lance. Now he understood why Pidge was such a planner. It was relaxing to know what to do next. 

Not that Lance would ever tell her that. He’d already teased her enough for it as it was. 

Lance grunted as another spark of pain shot up his leg. Any longer and Lance was sure the fact that it was broken would be the least of his worries. 

“Okay,” he breathed. “Okay. All right. On three.” He took a deep breath, trying to steel his nerves, and shifted himself into a more comfortable position. He squeezed his eyes shut, gripping the armrests of his chair tightly and leaning his head back. “One…” Lance breathed. “Two…” He squeezed his eyes shut, anticipation and adrenaline seizing his throat. “Three!” 

The third count came with the sound of ripping clothes as Lance wrenched his leg forcefully from under the cockpit. The scream that pulled itself from his lips died around his ears as he sat there, shivering and in complete agony. His brain felt fuzzy, unable to focus on anything but the pain. 

Eventually, he managed to open his eyes. He risked looking down at his leg, half of it resting on the chair. The other half drifted over, the kneecap bending in a way that shouldn’t have been possible. His Paladin armor had already been damaged, and from the way Lance’s leg had been trapped, a sharp edge under the dashboard had ripped into the back of Lance’s unprotected calf. 

He  _ really  _ had to talk to Coran about getting better protection for the back of his legs. 

He was getting off track. First aid kit first, mentally berate Coran later. Lance dragged himself out of the chair, unable to stand as he pulled himself towards the nearest box with what he hoped were medical supplies in it. He opened it, kneeling heavily on his good leg and shifted around in it. 

Lance ended up only pulling a few granola bars (at least he hoped they were granola bars, it was hard to tell when you couldn’t read Altean) and a roll of space duct tape from within. He figured it’d come in handy when he had to make a makeshift splint for his leg. He also pulled out a thin blanket, spreading it on the floor. How it was supposed to keep someone warm was anyone’s guess. 

Lance contented himself with the thought that Blue’s previous paladin was probably very warm by nature. He scooted to the next box. 

This one held a few more Altean granola bars and some weird bottle of what Lance hoped was glue and cotton balls. Buried under the mountain of cotton balls, Lance struck gold. A small first aid kit and two long boards. He could only hoped the first aid kit would have what he needed. 

Lance had never paid attention during medical lessons at the Garrison. In fact, he never paid attention much at all. Before he had been promoted to fighter class after Keith left, he spent much of the period glaring at the mullet from the back of the class. Meaning, he missed a lot of crucial information he probably should have paid attention to. 

“Focus, McClain,” he whispered. “Think. What did Iverson say about broken legs?” 

_ Assess the injury,  _ something in the back of his mind told him in a strikingly good impression of his old teacher. Lance did so, gently peeling off the armor on his leg and pulling back the pant leg of his flight suit. The area around his thigh was swelling and discolored, purple streaks lining an abnormal bump in his skin. Lance reached out and gently prodded it, immediately regretting the decision as it felt like something was grating horribly against his skin. The break seemed to be clean, however, so Lance silently thanked his lucky stars. 

Lance flipped open the first aid kit, reaching inside for the bandages. He gingerly stretched his leg out, wrapping his leg as tightly as he dared. Then, he took the two boards, lining them up carefully with his leg. 

_ Too long,  _ he thought, trying to ignore the jarring pain that came shivering up his leg from any small movements. He’d had to use his bayard to shoot them apart. 

Mentally marking where his ankle met the board, Lance took out his bayard. It morphed into his gun and he took aim, carefully pulling the trigger. The wood split apart, giving Lance two perfect splints. 

Wrapping his leg with the wooden sticks, the thin blanket, and the duct tape, Lance leaned back, trying to breathe. He ripped into a Altean granola bar, not realizing how hungry he actually was. It distracted him for a bit, but all too soon the last remnants of a weird cranberry-like flavor faded down his throat.

What now? 

The others. Lance had to get a signal out to them. To let him know he was alive. Until Blue was back online, Allura had no way to track him down. But Lance had felt Blue’s anguish in that moment, the lightning ripping into her and sucking her power dry. That would take awhile. Best to find the rest of the team and let them know he was alive first. 

Lance, still unwilling to put any weight on his leg, dragged himself back into the chair. It was crooked, a corner still lodged underneath the cockpit, but it at least kept his leg elevated on the dashboard. 

Lance lifted his helmet into his hands and fit it over his head. He pressed a hand to the back of it, listening to the static as the comms were activated. 

“Shiro?” Lance hated how desperate he sounded as he spoke. “Hunk? Pidge? Keith? Anyone there? It’s...it’s Lance. I’m alive.” 

Static was his only answer. 

Panic welling in his chest, Lance tried again, calling Hunk’s name. His best friend, he knew, would respond to him. He was probably worried sick and searching frantically for any trace of the Blue Lion.. Hunk would answer him. He had to. 

Just static greeted him.

He tried calling Shiro next. His personal hero, the man that had always been there to talk to since they had flung themselves into a wormhole that sent them far, far from Earth. Far from  _ home.  _

Lance let himself feel the incoming homesickness. He missed Earth. He missed the scent of cinnamon that always seemed to follow Mamá everywhere. He missed Papá and his never-ending love for soccer. He missed the rolling of the Cuban waves, the sands caking between his toes. He would even go as far as saying he missed Veronica, as bossy as she was, and little annoying Marco, who was turning ten this year. 

Or had he already turned ten? Had Lance missed his baby brother’s birthday? 

The thought made Lance’s heart sink. 

He shook his head violently, trying to focus. He had to find the others first. No use in getting side-tracked.

“Pidge?” He called out again. Pidge would answer him. Of course she would. Pidge was like his little sister - small and bright-eyed and  _ wonderful.  _ She’d never treated him the way the others on the team, aside from Hunk and Coran, sometimes did. Lance did screw up a lot, but she at least let him stand up and try again. 

Unlike Keith. 

But Lance was desperate enough to call Keith’s name too. He was willing to put aside the bitter one-sided rivalry for a moment, if it just meant he could get back to the castle in one piece. 

“Keith?” Lance wet his dry lips. “C’mon, is anyone out there?” 

His only answer was static. 

Cursing in Spanish, Lance took his helmet off and cradled it in his hands. He had an urge to throw it, toss across the cockpit and let it crash against the walls, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. 

He really wished Blue would come online soon. 

Lance scrubbed a hand down his face. Dried blood had crusted on his forehead and hairline from the cut there, and he leaned back. Ocean eyes hardened into a glare directed at the ceiling. 

_ How did this happen?  _

The obvious answer popped to mind instantly. Lance was a dumbass. A big, dumb, loyal dumbass and for that it cost him. He’d broken his leg and was now drifting in space who knows where. For all Lance knew, he could be heading straight to Zarkon’s base and he’d be none the wiser. Although if he were, Lance wouldn’t mind. He’d content himself with the knowledge that it was  _ him  _ and not anyone else that had gotten captured. He’d seen what the Galra had done to Shiro. He didn’t want that to happen to anyone else. 

Besides, Lance wasn’t much use anyways. He didn’t need Keith to tell him that on a near day-to-day basis, he knew that himself. He had his incredible marksmanship, but when it came to literally any other form of combat, Lance was basically useless. He didn’t have a doubt that if he wasn’t as good at shooting as he was, he would have been the first booted from the team. 

It would have been like  _ Total Drama Island,  _ (an old TV show Veronica used to watch all the time) but with less voting and more of a general understanding that Lance sucked. He was useless, and he was better off like this; floating aimlessly through space. If Blue wasn’t with him, Lance knew with a sinking feeling in his gut, the others wouldn’t even be trying to look for him. 

Mamá used to tell him that he would do great things. She would coo it in his ear late at night when Lance couldn’t sleep. But if ‘great’ meant being the weak link in a chain of wonderfully talented people, Lance would rather go home. 

Keith was good at everything. Running, climbing piloting, he was everything Lance wasn’t. He’d even beaten Lance a few times at sharpshooting, (a feat the Red Paladin never let Lance forget) and the thought had made Lance feel even worse than he already had. 

He was just so  _ useless.  _

Mamá would have disagreed. She would have slapped him and berated him for thinking about himself in a way like that. But she didn’t understand.  _ No one  _ understood. Lance just felt so empty all the time. A void inside of him that could never quite be filled. He was usually able to bury these feelings under witty jokes and flirty pick up lines he threw at Allura from time-to-time, but drifting through space with Blue inoperable and going who knows where left Lance alone with his thoughts. 

He hated that more than anything else. 

In the Garrison, Hunk had always been there when the thoughts had gotten too bad. After all, Lance had felt so empty for so long, he forgot how it felt to be truly happy. To smile and joke around without feeling something else inside of him cracking. Hunk, however, chased the thoughts away, however briefly. He let Lance rant and cry into his shoulder, and afterwards they’d marathon Star Wars. 

Lance’s lips turned up at the thought. Star Wars was the first movie series he’d watched when he moved to America from Cuba. Hunk had chased him down one day, and in broken Spanish (Lance’s English at the time was horrendous) insisted they’d watch it. Lance had been transfixed at the thought of space travel. Ultimately, it had been the deciding factor that had put him on the course to the Garrison. 

He’d found out Shiro existed, the incredible trainee that had graduated a full two years early and was already set to go to Kerberos for a information retrieval. Lance had been fascinated and had tested in to be in the same class Shiro was in. 

Then he was to be nothing more than a  _ cargo  _ pilot. 

Lance felt tears prick at his eyes. The only reason he’d even gotten to be fighter class was because Keith  _ dropped out.  _ Otherwise, Lance would have stayed as a supply drop for the more skilled pilots like Keith. 

Lance leaned his head back onto the headrest of Blue, closing his eyes. He had to stop thinking of the  _ what if’s  _ and  _ could have’s _ and focus on right now. Because Blue was injured, he was floating in the middle of space and was being, predictably, useless and wallowing in self pity. 

There wasn’t much he could do in the way of repairs. He had a broken leg and could only drag himself across the cockpit. He was lucky Blue’s gravity was still working, otherwise the initial trapping under the dashboard would have been a lot more painful. 

Lance placed his palm against the ceiling of the cockpit and concentrated. Searching for Blue’s aura. 

“C’mon, girl…” He whispered. Blue had to wake up. Otherwise he’d be stranded out here forever, and-

Lance pulled his hand away. Tears were pricking at his eyes again. There he went, being selfish and thinking more of himself and less of Blue. She was the one who was more hurt in this situation. She’d been hit with Druid magic head on, after all. 

_ Selfish. Worthless.  _

The two thoughts felt like tiny daggers being driven into Lance’s skin. The full gravity of his situation finally came crashing around him as he leaned forwards and  _ sobbed,  _ months of pent up emotions finally leaving him. He’d been holding this in for so long. Nowadays, there was no time to cry. No time to feel bad for himself because it was selfish to do that when Pidge’s family was missing, Shiro had near daily nightmares, and Keith had no one to look forwards to seeing when they got back to Earth. Not when Hunk struggled to keep Lance’s demons from consuming him. 

That wasn’t fair. Not to the team, not to the millions of others still under Galra control. 

But  _ damn,  _ it felt good to cry. 

Lance sobbed, tears pooling in his ocean blue eyes as he thought of home, of  Mamá and Papá, of the Garrison hallways that always smelled like lemons, and his Abuela's delicious chocolate chip cookies. Lance was homesick and depressed and he’d rather be dead than let himself go another day like this. 

But he had to. He was a Defender of the Universe, like it or not. He had to be strong. 

But it was so hard when his mind was always telling him he was better off dead, better off back on earth as the dumb cargo pilot that got promoted to fighter class by luck. Better off being insulted and chatsized by Iverson every day than here, being so obviously useless that even his own teammates knew it. 

Lance cried, days of stress and sadness lifting from his shoulders. He pressed the back of his hand over his eyes, trying to stem the flow of tears. Should anyone see, they’d know how  _ weak  _ he really was. He had to keep fighting. For Mamá and Papá. He had to be brave. 

_ “Be brave,”  _ Mamá’s voice echoed. 

Brave. Lance repeated the word several times in his head. Brave. 

It was bravery (and adrenaline) that made Lance tackle Coran, taking the full brunt of that bomb back on Arus. It was bravery that made him speak up against Keith as he attacked the Galra base on the Balmera without thinking about the consequences to the planet. It was bravery that saved the team with countless good shots from his sniper rifle.

He wasn’t useless. He couldn’t be. Not if they kept him around this long. Not if there were things that only he could do. He was still there. Pidge still invited him to movie marathons, Hunk still tried to teach him how to cook, Keith still made attempts at conversations with him, and Shiro still tried to teach Lance (to no avail) how to fight. Coran still covered him in blankets when he fell asleep looking at the star charts, and Allura still smiled at every one of his dumb pick-up lines. 

Yes, Lance was useless in some ways. But there were things only he could do. Only he could lighten the team up with a witty joke, or fly his lion smoothly in water. Only him. And it was with some miracle Lance pulled himself together, drying his eyes with his sleeve. 

_“Be brave.”_ Mamá said again. And if bravery meant combating the horrible feelings that plagued him day and night without pause, Lance would do it. He would fight them and he would _win._

He took a deep breath at the same time Blue’s circuits hummed to live. A comforting blue glow surrounded him and he laughed, wrapping his arms around himself and letting more tears stream down his face. 

He felt Blue reach out through their bond, concern for her paladin radiating off her. But Lance only sobbed in relief as he activated Blue’s distress signal. 

“I’m fine,” he said, and for once, he meant it. “Let’s go home.” 

And it was only half an hour later before the Castle wormholed into sight, and the Green and Yellow Lions appeared, streaking towards him to tow him back to the castle. Back to the ship. 

Back  _ home.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooo! 
> 
> I really should be working on a certain OTHER fanfiction, but hey, I've currently fallen into Voltron hell and I intend to make the most of it. And, since Lance is my favorite character, I must make him suffer. 
> 
> Logical, right? 
> 
> This is mostly Lance overcoming his inner demons, while in agony because his leg is actually broken. I'm so proud of him, because while I do headcanon he has that intense depression, he still has the ability to power through it. What a pure child. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment or kudos if you did, I love reading feedback! <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is gone, out in the reaches of space. 
> 
> What does the team do now?

Hunk had never heard a more terrifying sound than the Blue Lion’s comms going dead.

He watched, the druid magic engulfing Blue and there was a terrible crackling noise and then _silence_. Hunk had seen Blue get thrown into the air, tossing her through the atmosphere of the planet and into space. She was nothing more than a speck all too soon.

And she had taken Hunk’s best friend with her.

He had panicked a moment later, pulling on Yellow’s controls and urging her to wake up. To do _something_.

But Lance was already too far gone.

Hunk could hear Pidge swearing into the comms. Shiro shouting orders and Keith calling for Lance to respond. But Hunk just felt...empty. Like a part of him spiraled up into space along with Blue. The walls seemed to close in around him. Everything was spinning and not enough air was getting into Hunk’s lungs. His breaths were strangled and scared because Lance was _all alone_ up there.

The room began to spin. Hunk’s throat began to close, vision blurring into a wash of yellow and silver.

“Hunk!”

A voice. Commanding. Concerned.

Shiro.

Hunk focused on it, trying to use it to ground him. Gradually, the room came back into focus. Breathing came easier. More naturally. Hunk took deep gulps of air, trying to relax. But he just couldn’t because Lance and Blue were up there all alone who knows where and-

“Hunk, breathe.”

Hunk followed the orders, trying to block out the horrible thoughts. Keith and Pidge had gone silent. Hunk took deep breaths.

“I’m okay now,” he said thickly. He didn’t feel like he was okay, but the room had stopped spinning at least. “Th-Thanks, Shiro.”

Shiro gave an affirmative grunt. “Can anyone move their lions?”

“Nope,” Pidge groaned. Hunk envisioned her pulling on the controls, urging Green to wake up. Hunk’s throat squeezed at the thought that maybe the others weren’t as concerned about Lance as he was.

Lance, who had demons that plagued him near daily and didn’t tell anyone. Lance who had suffered from depression since he was young and had pulled Hunk aside with the intentions of keeping it a secret from the others. Lance, who was now alone in space. Alone with his thoughts. The thoughts that Lance had always been so afraid of.

“L-Lance,” he managed to say. His head still pounded and he could feel the panic returning full-force. Lance never liked to bother anyone with his problems. Rather, he liked to help others _fix_ their problems. Because if he couldn’t help with his own, the least he could do would be to help others feel better.

“I know, Hunk,” Shiro said bracingly. Hunk unconsciously leaned into the sound of his voice. Commanding, comforting. Shiro would know what to do. He always did. “We can’t do anything with our lions out of commision. Allura-” He paused, waiting for the Altean Princess’ answer. It didn’t come.

“Allura?” Pidge chimed in but was met with the same response. “ _Shit_.” She swore. Hunk half-expected Shiro to comment on her language, but she didn’t give him the chance. “Our long-range comms are down. The only ones functioning are the ones inside the Lions.”

“And the Blue Lion?” Hunk heard the panic in Shiro’s voice.

“Nothing. No signature. I think the blast knocked her out of commision.” Pidge left an unspoken word hanging in the air. _Permanently._ Hunk’s throat closed uncomfortably and he reached over to place his hand on Yellow’s dashboard.

“Please…” He begged. “Please, please, please…”

He could feel Yellow. She was there, as she always was, pressing against the back of his mind. But it was weaker than normal. Like she was asleep. Or unconscious.

“What was that, anyway?” Keith finally spoke. His voice sounded strangely constricted like he was holding back a wall of panic and fear. Hunk felt like he’d succumb to his own, given enough time that they were lying helpless on a planet with Lance spiraling farther and farther away with each moment.

“I don’t know,” Shiro answered honestly. “But whatever it did...seriously did a number on us. Pidge, what’s the status of our comms?”

Hunk tried to reach out to Yellow again. Still, she remained unresponsive.

“I’m working on it,” Pidge replied. “They should be up in a tick, but it might take longer. I can’t run a full test on them until we’re back to the castle…” She trailed off and didn’t continue. Hunk felt his breathing growing faster.

“Hunk,” Shiro said again. “Breathe. He’ll be okay.”

 _Will he?_ Hunk wanted to say. But his voice seemed to have failed him. Lance never liked being alone. In fact, he had lost count of the number of times Lance had come to him in the middle of the night, unable to stand being alone with the thoughts that never seemed to leave him alone. Lance was alone, in space, with his crippling insecurity.

“...aladins!”

A voice. A lightly accented voice echoed into the comms. Pidge let out a triumphant shout and both Keith and Shiro sighed in relief. The long-range comms were back online. And if they were back, perhaps Hunk could use them to contact Lance.

“Allura!” Shiro said.

“Thank the stars,” the relief in Allura’s voice was prominent above all else. “What happened?!”

“No idea,” Keith said. “We were hit by something and-” Hunk cut him off.

“Lance!” He hated how desperate he sounded. How scared he was. Because Lance was still alone up there. “Lance, are you there?! Can you hear me?!”

“Hunk…” Shiro tried to say.

“Lance!” The walls started closing in around Hunk. It started to hurt to breathe, breaths coming out in short raspy gasps. The room spun around, an invisible weight settling itself on Hunk’s chest. His hands felt clammy and cold, shaking on the Yellow Lion’s controls.

“Hunk, breathe!” Shiro shouted again. It took longer this time for their leader’s voice to ground Hunk. He focused on it, trying to bring himself from the brink of a full-on panic attack.

“What is going on?” Allura said. “I can’t pull up visual feeds from your lions, and I can’t feel the Blue Lion’s quintessence anymore.”

“Nothing good,” Shiro grunted.

“At least the Robeast is gone,” Pidge added helpfully. Hunk felt like his head was being squeezed under an enormous force. Lance was missing and what they chose to focus on was the defeat of the Robeast?!

“How can you say that?!” Hunk demanded voice strangled and hoarse. “The Blue Lion’s comms are down and Lance...Lance is-”

“I think Red is coming online,” Keith cut Hunk off. True to his word, the Red Lion on Hunk’s left began to shift. “Yeah, yeah, she is! We’re in luck!” He paused for a moment. “If Red’s online, that means Blue might be too, soon. Lance will be okay.”

“Keith’s right,” Shiro chimed in. “Lance isn’t alone up there. He has Blue. He’ll be okay.”

The thought, however briefly, was comforting. Yellow’s presence against the back of Hunk’s mind grew stronger. The yellow lights that filled the cockpit flooded it once more and Yellow let out a concerned whine, feeling her Paladin’s fear.

“Y-Yeah,” Hunk thought his own voice sounded very foreign to him all of the sudden. “He’s got Blue. He’ll be fine. Yeah.”

“Let’s get back to the castle,” Shiro said. “Allura, we’re coming back to the castle. We’ll explain more when we get there.”

“Understood,” Allura’s tone was all business. “I’ll see all of you there.”

 

The Castle seemed too big and too empty to Pidge now.

By now, Lance would have been prancing next to her, as he always did after a successful mission, singing his praises and occasionally congratulating her too. He would have cracked jokes on the way to the bridge, laughing at them all the while.

It seemed strange to her, now. While the Blue and Green lion hangars were next to each other, Lance went out of his way after each mission to make sure she was okay. He backtracked after each mission, checked her over for injuries, and then started boasting in a very loud voice.

Pidge never realized how much she liked that.

She thought they were annoying. Irritating segments of her day where Lance just _wouldn’t_ shut up and leave her alone for once. But now, with Keith trailing behind her, his arms crossed so tightly she thought he’d never unwind them, she missed them more than ever. Pidge understood Hunk’s fear. Lance was an essential part of the team. Their sharpshooter, jokester, relaxed guy.

And now he was gone.

Pidge entered the bridge. Shiro was already there, standing with Allura and Coran. His expression was unusually grave, but he still greeting Pidge and Keith with a tight smile. Hunk came in last, looking wide-eyed and sweaty. He was wringing his hands together nervously, eyes darting to each person in the room. Pidge set a hand on his arm (she was too short to reach his shoulder, not that she’d ever say that out loud) to comfort him. He gave her a grateful smile.

“What happened?” Allura got straight to the point.

“The Robeast exploded,” Keith said bluntly.

“Exploded?”

“Some kind of magic appeared when we defeated it and threw us all apart.” Shiro clarified. “I honestly thought none of us were going to make it. But Lance…” He cleared his throat. “Somehow Blue was online still. And Lance jumped in the way.”

Allura’s eyes went wide. “Is that why…?”

“He’s not here?” Hunk’s voice was strained. “Yeah.”

“He was thrown into space,” Pidge said. “We couldn’t contact him. I think the magic cut off his comms.” Allura pursed her lips, heading over to the control console. The star charts expanded across the room, shimmering and shifting. Pidge glanced around her as Allura concentrated, her eyes closed. Pidge knew what she was doing. She was using her connection to the Lions to try and find Blue. But from the looks of things, it was not going well. No sign of the Blue Lion appeared anywhere. Pidge felt cement settle into her stomach.

Allura opened her eyes and the star map faded away. The defeat on her expression made Pidge want to throw up.

“Princess?” Coran said tentatively.

“No good,” she shook her head. “The Blue Lion must be offline. Until it’s online again, I will be unable to track Lance’s location.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Foreign. Like it should have been broken immediately with a witty joke or a pick-up line. Or an argument prompted without warning. But there was none because Lance was gone. Pidge felt like she had just been doused in ice water. If Allura couldn’t find the Blue Lion, what were they supposed to do? The comms were down, there was a high chance both Blue and Lance were injured. They had to find them as soon as possible.

“...what?” Hunk said first, voicing the first coherent thought that came to Pidge’s mind.

“I’m sorry,” Allura looked pained.

“What are we supposed to do, then?!” Keith demanded. “Wait?!” Allura didn’t reply and Keith’s face went red with rage. It was odd for him to be so strung up about this, especially when the matter concerned Lance. “I can’t _do_ that!”

“Keith,” Shiro said, tone warning.

“No, Keith is right!” Hunk’s tone was an octave higher than usual. “You guys don’t understand! Lance could be hurt and he-” He sucked in a huge breath through his teeth. Pidge glanced at Hunk, confusion tickling her mind for a moment, what did they not understand?

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Lance hates, _hates_ being alone,” Hunk was pale. “He hates it more than anything. Because he hates his thoughts and can’t deal with them when no one else is around.”

“His thoughts?” Coran narrowed his eyes. “What do you-”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hunk said. “If-If we can’t find him right now, we have to keep trying. Do anything. I’m going out with Yellow to search-”

“No,” Allura told him. Her voice reminded Pidge of a diamond. Concentrated, hard, and commanding. Hunk froze. “You will remain on the ship.” Her expression softened after a moment. “I cannot lose another Paladin today.”

Hunk bowed his head and looked away. His hands were trembling. Pidge realized after a moment that her’s were too.

“What do we do then?” She hated being in the dark. Pidge was a thinker. She had solutions for problems thought out in a matter of seconds. This, however, wasn’t something with an easy fix. One of their own was out there, alone and possibly injured. She had to do something but she just didn’t know _what_.

Pidge hated not knowing.

“All right,” Shiro, ever the leader, straightened his back. “Let’s focus, everyone. We have a mission to do, and we can’t let Lance down. Hunk, I want you to work on repairs for the lions. Get something off of your mind. Pidge, you find a way to see if you can make some sort of tracking device. Something that’ll pick up the Blue Lion’s signature. Keith you-”

“I’m going to train,” Keith cut Shiro off with a low growl. He moved over to the door and it hissed closed behind him. Shiro’s eyes followed the Red Paladin with a pained expression.

“I will continue to attempt to locate the Blue Lion,” Allura said. “Should she come online, I will be the first to know.”

“I will prep a healing pod,” Coran said easily. “Should our Blue Paladin be injured. If I may remind you all, though, the chance of injury is slim. The Blue Lion would have taken the brunt of the hit. Lance is okay. He always is, isn’t he?”

Pidge had to smile at that. Coran had a point. Lance was reckless, (Pidge sometimes called him a dumbass for that, and her heart began to sting, remembering all the other insults she had thrown at him) and that had landed him in the healing pod more than everyone else combined. But that loyalty had saved them, and every time Lance had come out on top against all odds. Every time he was okay. They had to believe that this time would be the same.

“Coran’s right,” Shiro said. “Go on, everyone. Let’s get to work.”

Pidge followed Hunk almost in a trance-like state from the room. She knew Shiro’s assignments for them was a distraction to get their minds off of their missing Paladin. It would work on her, she knew. Coding and programming and inventing was her forte. She often got lost in her work and Shiro and Lance frequently had to remind her to eat or to go to sleep if she’d been up for too long.  
Pidge broke away from Hunk, heading to her workshop in the Green Lion’s hangar. Lance was family to her now, she'd come to realize. And she’d lost more of her family today. First her father and brother, now Lance.

However, if she couldn’t save her father and brother right now, she sure as hell was going to save Lance. And _that_ was a promise.

 

Keith’s head was pounding.

He sliced away at the training bot in front of him with more force than what was needed, growling and cursing as his Bayard cut through the steel easily. The bot fell and its form shivered like bad TV reception and then vanished.

“Start the next level,” Keith said harshly.

The next bot appeared. Keith leveled his Bayard at it, taking up his stance. He met the first blow easily, his arms shuddering with the force of the Altean staff meeting his sword. Keith yelled, swiping out his legs and knocking the bot onto its back. It hit the tile with a loud clatter, its head knocking against the wall. Keith shoved the sword down through its chest. Like the bot before it, this one too vanished.

Too _easy_.

“Start the next level!” Keith shouted. The next bot came. And then the next. Nothing seemed to soothe Keith’s nerves, high-strung and twisted into pretzels. Lance was gone. And Keith didn’t do anything.

Keith didn’t _hate_ Lance, contrary to popular belief. In fact, he quite liked the Blue Paladin. But there was always something about Lance that grated on Keith’s nerves. The one-sided rivalry that Lance was so adamant about, the random arguments, the _stupid jokes._ There was always something that annoyed Keith whenever Lance opened his mouth. But months (Keith had lost track of how long they had been in space) with him had taught Keith to ignore those things that made Lance irritating. In fact, some of them had become endearing. Keith stopped viewing the rivalry Lance was so sure existed and started using it as a way to encourage Lance. To help him to improve. Admittedly, Keith could have been nicer in the way he went about trying to get Lance to get better, but Keith wasn’t good with people. Or emotions.

Keith pivoted on his heel, slicing another bot in half. The next one appeared, this time wielding a shield that Keith spent no time launching himself at, trying to knock it from the bot’s hands.

Sometimes, Lance was just so, _so stupid._

But what did that make Keith?

Keith resisted the urge to let out a frustrated scream he was sure the others would be able to hear. If Lance was stupid, Keith was even more dim-witted. If Lance was the prince of recklessness, Keith sat upon the throne. He hadn’t done anything to save Lance. To take the blow himself. Instead, Lance had paid for his mistake.

Keith knew something was off. That whole battle, something about the Robeast they fought seemed off. Seemed _different_. He knew he should have said something. Warned Shiro, done something to take care of it himself. Just _something_. But he didn’t. And now Lance and Blue were spiraling alone in space _who knows where,_ without any backup and worst of all, _alone_.

Hunk said Lance hated being alone. That his thoughts were too difficult to deal with himself. The sentence implied bigger things than Lance’s thoughts being too loud. It implied that Lance felt useless, that he hated himself, and viewed himself as a liability to the team.

Lance didn’t know how untrue that was.

Keith cut through the shield-wielding bot. It crumpled to the ground and vanished. For a moment, Keith let himself breathe. He had to relax. Training and tearing apart bots with his bare hands (as appealing as that sounded) wouldn’t get Lance home. He had to do something. Allura had forbidden them from going out and searching with their Lions, but Keith had always had a disregard for the rules.

If nothing else, Keith had to look.

He turned on his heel, opening his mouth to end the training sequence, only to find Shiro standing in front of him.

Shiro gave Keith a small smile, having been standing in the room watching Keith tear apart bot after bot, forehead creased with concentration. He wanted to reach out, but Keith was clearly deep in thought. Keith watched him, his guarded and angry expression melting away almost instantly.

“Something wrong?” He asked.

“Just...worried.” Worried was an understatement. Shiro felt sick. His stomach had twisted itself into permanent knots and he had spent the past hour wandering aimlessly around the castle, consumed by his thoughts. Scenarios flashed in his mind of what could have happened to Lance, each one worse than the last. He could have been captured by the Galra, put under experimentation like Shiro. He could have died in the blast. He could have been shot out of Blue’s cockpit and into the unforgiving voice of space, rapidly losing air and unable to get back inside the lion and-

Shiro took a deep breath.

“He’ll be okay, Shiro,” Keith said. Shiro’s lips quirked up slightly, but they fell a moment later. Of course Keith would know what he was feeling. They’d practically grown up together, after all.

“I know,” Shiro said quietly. “But…God…” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I’ve never been more worried in my life.”

“Even more than the one time I landed myself in the hospital doing dumb tricks at the Garrison?” Keith quirked his eyebrow. Shiro snorted. The Red Paladin had a point. Keith had been given the opportunity to fly an actual fighter pilot. The first thing Keith had done was ignore the rules and go rocketing into the desert to practice maneuvering through tight spaces. Keith had crashed, landing himself in the hospital with nasty burns and cuts crisscrossing his entire body.

But this...this was different. That incident was on Earth, a place where Shiro knew Keith would be okay because there were people that would help him. This was space - where Lance was surrounded on almost all sides by the enemy. By people that wanted to hurt him. The only help that Shiro could think of coming to help would be Team Voltron themselves. Everything else was either unfriendly, or occupied by the Galra. If Lance was found, the chance of it being by someone sympathetic to the Voltron cause was very slim.

“What if someone finds him before we do?” Shiro asked quietly. He hated how likely that was. Keith paled. Clearly, he hadn’t thought of that himself.

“He won’t,” Keith said, the confidence in his voice wavering. “He’ll be okay. He’ll have to be.” There was a pause before he spoke again. “I’m going to go out and look for him. You and Black could join, if you want.”

“We can’t,” Shiro said instantly. He wasn’t sure how Keith wasn’t expecting this answer from him. “Allura put us all on lockdown. If one of us leaves, she’ll know. Besides…” He trailed off, looking Keith up and down. Sweat still hung in his clothes, rising off of him in a stench that was none too pleasant. “I don’t think I can handle losing someone else today.” He finished quietly.

Keith paused for a moment, astonishment spreading across his face. His rigid posture relaxed for a moment, uncrossing his arms to stare at Shiro incredulously. A moment later, he realized Shiro was talking about  _him._

“...right,” he said finally. “Right. I wasn’t thinking. I just...can’t sit by. Everyone has their thing to do...and I…”

“I know,” Shiro had to agree with that. While Hunk worked on repairs, Pidge tried to create a tracking device, Coran prepped a pod, and Allura searched the stars for the Blue Lion, Shiro and Keith were left to their own devices. Unable to do much, Shiro had wandered the hallways, wondering if he should console his team or leave them be.

Eventually, his heart had set on helping his team and his feet had carried him to the training room in order to check on Keith. Shiro, as much as he hated to admit it, felt useless. A leader without a purpose. He was supposed to be strong. Immovable. A rock his teammates could lean on when they needed it. But here he was, falling apart and instead leaning on Keith for support.

Some leader he was.

“Hey,” Keith set his hand on Shiro’s shoulder. His thumb rubbed circles comfortingly into the Black Paladin’s skin, relaxing him. “It’s fine. Everything will be okay.” It seemed strange that Keith was the one consoling Shiro when it should have been the other way around. But part of it felt right. Shiro didn’t have to be that shoulder to cry on for everyone all the time. He could lean on the others too.

Shiro smiled weakly. “You still like to cook, right?”

Keith went pink and cleared his throat, looking away. “Y-Yeah. Why?” Shiro let himself feel the incoming nostalgia. Back on Earth, Keith had harbored a secret love for cooking. It relaxed him, in a weird way, and all though he was nowhere near as good as the masterful chef Hunk was, Keith was still pretty decent. Shiro had had some of his cooking and it did taste rather good.

“Let’s head to the kitchen then,” Shiro said. “We can make a meal for Lance and the others. Once we get him home.”

Keith smiled, avoiding Shiro’s gaze bashfully. “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

 

Coran was an advisor. He made decisions. He’d seen the outcomes of those decisions, good and bad, and helped people heal. This was no different.

He stood in the infirmary, folding blankets and putting fresh ones over a medical table. Should Lance be injured, Coran would have to assess his injuries before putting him inside a cryo-pod. A tray full of strange seeds they had picked up on a planet they had liberated from Galra control sat next to the bed. They were supposed to be painkillers, should Lance be in an indescribable amount of pain when he returned.

Coran knew the odds of Lance being uninjured were low. But he had to have some way of soothing the other Paladin’s worry. In fact, if Coran put it bluntly, there was at least a ninety percent chance that the Blue Paladin was hurt, the lion even more so. They had been hit with druid magic. A magic so ancient and primeval that even Coran didn’t know how it worked. After all, the Druids had come to power after Altea had been destroyed and he and Allura had been put to sleep.

Coran sighed, glancing over at the pod. It hummed, cleaning itself and prepping for the Paladin that would hopefully be home within the day. Coran was not one for favorites, but Lance was the Paladin he liked the most. There was something about the carefree attitude, the laughter, the jokes, that made Lance likable. And made his absence all the more crushing.

The hallways were too quiet. Coran had gotten used to them being alive with the sound of footsteps and laughter. Occasionally, it’d be full of that language Lance sometimes slipped into as he chased someone down the hallway for not taking care of themselves. Now, with the Blue Paladin gone, it was all too quiet once again.

Coran hadn’t been asleep when Allura was. He had watched her slump over in her father’s arms and Alfor turned to her, his final wish upon his lips. He had asked Coran to watch over Allura. To protect her, and keep her safe whatever may come. Alfor had known that the battle was fruitless. He knew he was to die. But he still instilled his last wish in Coran. The advisor had stayed awake for a few days longer than Allura, fighting a fruitless war and implementing Alfor’s consciousness into a room into the castle, should the king not live.

Coran had always held out hope that Alfor would live. That he would defeat Zarkon and wake Allura and Coran within the day, arms wide and declare that the universe was safe. But, he should have figured, that dreams that naïve were just that. Dreams. And dreams rarely came true.

Alfor had gone for his final confrontation with Zarkon when he finally put Coran to sleep. Coran hadn’t fought it, instead gave Alfor a tired smile.

“I will see you when I awaken, old friend,” Coran had said.

“Or,” Alfor’s expression was grim. Determined. “We shall meet again in death.”

Coran had only nodded, his vision swam and then everything had gone dark for 10,000 years. Coran didn’t know the extent of the final battle Alfor had with Zarkon, but he knew Alfor lost. He knew Zarkon had killed him. Coran would only see his friend again if he died of old age or fell in battle.

Coran gripped the blankets in his hand tightly. He refused to let another friend, another family, fall. He’d lost too much already. His wife, his friend, his whole civilization. He’d just begun to pick up the pieces and put them back together. Should Lance be injured, Coran would heal him. That was just what he did. He was an advisor. A man of wisdom and experience, but also kindness and humor.

He would not let this family, too, fall in a war that was not of their doing. Especially not when Coran had already gotten so attached.

Coran straightened his back, spreading the blanket over the infirmary table. He smoothed the wrinkles, fingers splayed over the soft surface. He realized, with an unfamiliar jolt in his stomach, that he was trembling. From anger or fear, Coran had yet to place. His fingers shook on the bedding and he held them close to his chest.

 _Fear,_ he decided.

Lance was out there, alone, scared, and with his thoughts. Coran had been with Lance long enough to know that not everything was as it seemed with the Blue Paladin. Some of his laughter was forced, most of his smiles did not reach his eyes. His true, genuine smiles, made the edges of his eyes crinkle and his whole face light up brilliantly. His fake ones seemed hollow, empty, the ocean eyes dull and unfeeling.

Those were the smiles Coran saw the most.

Whatever Lance was struggling through, Coran resolved to help him. But now, he saw, he perhaps wasn’t trying hard enough. Hunk had mentioned Lance hated to be alone. And now he was. Spiraling alone in a Lion that was unresponsive and wasn’t emitting any signal for Allura to track.

Coran would find him. He would bring him home and help Lance through whatever plagued him. This time, he would try harder. This time, he would do better. He would help Lance heal because Coran was an advisor. It was just what he did.

The pod beeped, indicating that it was ready. Coran kept it open, should Lance need to be put in immediately. He brushed his hands off and stared determinedly at the empty pod. Zarkon would not rip apart another family. Not if he had any say in it.

And, unfortunately for Zarkon, Coran did have a say in it.

 

Allura was a diplomat at heart. She never let her emotions fuel her or get in the way. However, when one of her Paladin’s lives were at stake, she allowed herself to worry, just a little bit.

On all sides, the Galra empire stretched endlessly. Planets overtaken, their people enslaved and countless more being used by the druids for experimentation. If Team Voltron’s luck wouldn’t hold, far worse forces would get to Lance before they could.

The odds of it didn’t make Allura’s writhing stomach feel any better.

She stood on the bridge, the stars stretched out before her. Searching. Feeling. The Blue Lion’s quintessence was a stark contrast to any of the other lion’s. Each one was different, (a comforting yellow, a relaxed black, an inquisitive green, and a fiery red) but the Blue Lion, in particular, exuded an aura of care. Of heart.

It would be impossible to miss. Allura clung to that belief as she searched, her eyes closed. Any sign of a cool blue amongst the stars. Sadly, her search was ending up just as fruitless.  
Hardly able to stand, the star map died around Allura. Black spots danced in her eyes as she staggered over to a chair to sit down. She placed her aching head in the palm of her hand, white tresses falling around her.

She had never been more disappointed in herself. Allura had long since vowed to herself that this group of Paladins would never end up in the same unfortunate fate that the previous ones had gone through. They would defeat Zarkon, and live to all go home or remain in space to fight other nefarious people that sought for universal domination. And now, one of those Paladins she swore to protect was now missing. Gone, floating alone in an expanse of enemies and friends, with no knowledge of which was which.

She had to keep searching. She had to get to Lance before anyone else did.

Allura attempted to stand, gathering up the last of her strength for one last search through the universe, but ended up stumbling and falling back against her chair. She couldn’t stand. Her head pounded and she felt weaker than she had in a very long time.

She needed a break and she prayed for the stars to allow her that one break so she could focus all of her energy on finding her lost Paladin.

Lance, while not her favorite member of the new Paladins, was an invaluable member of Voltron. The pick-up lines got a bit tiresome and the jokes he found so funny got irksome, but he was still so, so important. If he died out there, alone with that thoughts Hunk was convinced her was afraid of, Allura would never forgive herself. She’d remind herself of that every time she’d look at the new Blue Paladin they’d be forced to get after Lance died. She’d hurt every time she looked at the Blue Lion.

Shiro may be the Paladin’s leader, but Allura was their diplomat. At the end of the day, she tried the hardest to keep them all alive. Through support from the castle, or going out into the fray herself (as was the case with the Balmera) she did her best to save her Paladins and keep them safe from the threats that plagued their backline. But the one time Allura wasn’t on edge, the one time Keith had been convinced they wouldn’t need air support from the castle, everything had gone terribly wrong all too fast.

Allura wasn’t there to see the Blue Lion get thrown into the stratosphere. However, the mental images of it vanishing into the void of space was enough to give her nightmares. The castle was all too silent without Lance’s laughter, his bickering, or his pick-up lines Allura was beginning to miss. It was all too silent without Lance heckling her for skin-care products.

Allura wondered if Lance would be the same.

 _Of course, he will,_ she chided herself, frowning. He was just out in space with the Blue Lion, not captured by the Galra. Despite that, extended time alone could lead to some interesting thoughts. Hunk seemed adamant that Lance wasn’t what he seemed on the outside. He must have been much sadder, much quieter than Allura gave him credit for.

He wasn’t quite as useless as he sometimes appeared to be. He was an excellent shot and a quick thinker. That had saved the team more times than Allura could count, and if Lance was to be caught by unfriendly forces, that on the other team made her scared. Her breath made an uncomfortable hitching noise at the thought.

She rose again, newfound determination allowing her to push through the light-headedness that threatened to make her pass out. She blinked the spots out of her eyes and stepped forwards again. The stars appeared around her, and she reached out with her quintessence, trying to find the Blue Lion’s. Something uncomfortable was there now, something that pressed into the back of her mind adamantly, like it wanted something. Allura couldn’t place what it was, but it didn’t feel like the Blue Lion, so she ignored it for the time being.

Exhaustion pressed heavy on Allura’s mind. She was closer than ever to her breaking point, searching the stars for any sign of blue quintessence. Her head pounded, and she found herself thinking that she was not in the right state to be finding the Blue Lion. She had to eat something, rest, and then come back to her mission with a level head and a clear mind.

She pushed forwards anyways, searching, waiting for the Blue Lion to find her. She swayed on the spot, knowing how awful she must look. Allura began to close her mind, unable to keep it open for much longer, when the presence at the back of her mind grew louder and began to take a distinctly blue shape.

Her heart leapt. She traced the feeling to a few galaxies away, where a weak blue flickering light sat. In the middle of nowhere, safe from harm and far from any Galra controlled areas. Allura’s spirits rose. They were in luck.

She opened her eyes and the star map melted away.

“Paladins,” Allura called into the comms. “Come to the bridge. I’ve found him.”

 

Hunk was the first to volunteer to go tow Blue back to the castle. No words could describe how relieved he was. Lance was _alive_. He was _okay_. While he sat on top of Yellow, hammering out a few dents she had suffered, he was all Hunk thought about. His well-being, if he was hurt, and if so how badly.

Hunk all but ran to Yellow, Pidge on his heels, as the castle prepared the jump. Allura opened a wormhole and Hunk felt a familiar pinching and sucking sensation and they leapt through. Pidge’s expression was tight with worry, but her shoulders weren’t tense anymore. Hunk counted his blessings at the fact that they were so lucky.

He knew Pidge hadn’t worked much either. Both she and Hunk knew that Shiro’s orders were just a way to distract them while Allura did the searching for the Blue Lion. Hunk had walked by Green’s hangar a few times over the course of the twelve hours Lance had been gone and saw her staring blankly at the ceiling. Thinking. Hoping.

And all of that wishing paid off. Lance was here. He was okay.

Hunk swung himself into Yellow’s cockpit. At Allura’s order, he shot out of the hangar and soared down towards the Blue Lion, Green at his side.  
Blue looked a bit worse for wear. She was lying sideways (or at least Hunk thought it was sideways. Space didn’t have the concept of directions, after all) and parts of her metal were dented. Her large yellow eyes were flickering weakly. But she was there.

Yellow wrapped her claws around one of the Blue Lion’s legs. Green took the other side and they began heading back for the ship. Hunk glanced down at the lion they dragged along. The eyes flickered weakly, but Yellow purred in his mind. Blue was grateful. And her Paladin was safe inside.

They let the natural gravitational pull the castle exuded pull Blue into her hangar. Hunk made sure Blue was safely inside before going into his own and all but scrambling to the hangar. He met the others, equally worried and relieved as he was. They ran towards the Blue Lion, who lowered her head and opened her jaw to allow them inside.

Hunk was first in, running the ramp and taking a sharp turn into the cockpit. He saw Lance then, standing weakly and leaning against the wall, his leg wrapped in a makeshift splint and blood crusted into his hair, and he threw himself at his best friend, wrapping him into a bear hug. The others were there next, joining into the hug in a tangle of arms and legs as they all sank to the floor.

Hunk would be lying if he didn’t feel the tears in his eyes.

“Lance…” He sobbed. “Lance, you’re okay, you’re alive!”

 _“Sí,”_ Lance agreed quietly. His voice sounded strangely congested, like he had been crying recently. Hunk didn’t doubt that he had.

“What happened?” Shiro asked, pulling away. One by one, they all untangled themselves from Lance, taking a good look around the cockpit. The pilot’s chair had been jerked out of position, half of it stuck underneath the dashboard. A thin smearing of blood lined the controls, clearly where Lance had hit his forehead.

Lance shrugged. “I broke my leg,” he said helpfully.

“We can see that,” Keith’s eyes were fixed on the splint.

“How did you make that?” Pidge asked. “I thought you didn’t pay attention to any of the first aid classes at the Garrison.”

“I didn’t,” Lance said, glancing at his leg. He shifted and winced, immediately stopping the movement. “But this, I guess I remembered it.” He paused and then turned his ocean blue eyes on them. “Guys...I…” His eyes welled with tears. Hunk wanted nothing more than to wrap Lance in his arms again, but held himself back. He feared they had agitated Lance’s broken leg enough already.

“None of that today,” Coran said softly. “You are home. And that is what matters. Come now...let’s get you into a pod.”

Lance’s lips lifted into a smile that Hunk realized with a jolt was genuine. His eyes crinkled at the corners and his entire face lit up. Hunk felt like crying. Something inside Lance had changed. It was a good change, something that Hunk could see taking shape into unwavering confidence.

Lance was going to start fighting his demons. And he was going to win. But Hunk knew that it would be an uphill battle. Some days would be worse than others. This time, however, Hunk knew Lance wouldn’t be fighting alone. He would have all the others by his side, too.

And that was the happiest thought of all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! 
> 
> I actually wasn't planning on doing a second chapter of this. But several people showed interest in what it would be like on the team's end, panicking as they try to track down the Blue Lion's signature. I focused on each member and their own thoughts about Lance and his habits. Also, the team as a family is heavy in this! 
> 
> I decided to close with Hunk, because he got the least amount of closure in the beginning chunk, and I just thought it would be fitting to find Lance and reunite him with his space family in the point of view of his best friend. 
> 
> I'm so so glad about the positive stuff this story has gotten! I never intended for it to be a two-shot, but hey sometimes things don't go as planned. Apologies for it being so long, but also I don't regret it either. 
> 
> Leave a kudos or a comment if you liked it. I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> You can find my tumblr [here](https://chocolatechip-master.tumblr.com/)


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